Purposeful movement 2
I’ve posted before on the importance of reaching the 10,000 hr mark in your chosen field, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is no different. This week we focused on a combination of three standing guard passes that all linked together. The focus was on those three passes and if your opponet does x then you do y.
The three different passes all started from controlling the opponets legs from his open guard. Controlling the ankles, stopping the De la Riva guard, controlling the lapel. Moving to an X pass, smash pass or S guard pass.
Take one position, look at your options (offense or defense), link three options together….then training the heck out of them.
Purposeful Movement 1
My mentor in the fire service, Ed Hartin always pushes his fire behavior instructors to achieve 10,000 hrs of purposeful movement. Studies have shown that 10,000 hrs is what’s needed to become a content expert in a given field of study.
How many black belts have put that much time into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? If my math is correct spending 10 hrs on the mat each week equals 520 hrs a year. It would take over 19 years to reach 10,000 hrs at that pace if mat time was the only way to gain proficiency (and that’s a lot of time on the mat).
Does this mean that it should take a student 19 years to become a black belt? No it should not. The average is 10-12 years and that depends on several factors. I believe that a black belt will be at or near the 10,000 hrs range, it will not solely be mat time.
The BJJ practitioner will spend almost as many hours thinking, talking, writing and watching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As we all know BJJ is a chess match as much as it is a physical test.
Where are you on your journey to 10,000 hrs? Probably closer than you know. It all counts, every hour on the mat, every YouTube video watched, every discussion with training partners.
“Gentle pressure reletlessly applied”